Recto seeks separate district for Lipa City

Batangas: Political aspirants gunning for the proposed separate district representative seat for Batangas City would have to wait awhile as Sen. Ralph Recto readies his planned amendments to a measure, which involves creating a separate legislative district for Lipa City.

Rep. Raneo Abu of the province’s second district late last week presented House Bill (HB) 3750, which seeks to separate Batangas City from the province’s second legislative district, to the upper house.

The move followed the approval by the House of Representatives of HB 3750 on third and final reading.

In a gathering of the Senate committee on local government led by Sen. Ferdinand “Bong-bong” Marcos, where Recto sits as ex-officio member, the latter recommended to the proponents of HB 3750 the creation of a separate legislative district for Lipa City.

“To achieve this, both Batangas City and Lipa City are eligible and entitled to one representative each, therefore increasing our representatives from 4 to 6 following the constitutional mandate,” Recto said.

Recto said he would first consult the residents of Lipa City and the residents of the four towns in the province’s fourth district, including the provincial government and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan

“I may also propose to increase the number of board members for both Batangas City and Lipa City to one more each. That’s why we need to consult the board and the people of both districts,” he added

Recto is confident that residents of Lipa City will favor the creation of another legislative district provided with a representative who could properly represent them in Congress.

Batangas City is part of the second district of Batangas represented by Abu while Lipa City is part of the fourth district with Rep. Mark Mendoza as incumbent congressional representative.